Sesan

In an effort to make life more bearable, people engage in unlawful and criminal activities all over the world. The dignity of a human person is occasionally trampled upon when desperate efforts are made to make ends meet. Human beings are bought and sold just like goods and services in various parts of the world and worse still is the fact that many of the perpetrators of these scrupulous acts hardly get brought to book.

The prevalence of human trafficking across several climes, including the so-called developed countries, is one that calls for serious concerns. Statistics from the International Labor organization in 2014, revealed that annual profit made by traffickers was around $150 billion. The ready implication of this is that the crime has since attained a seemingly lucrative status in the eyes of many and this explains the reason for the surge in trafficking cases in recent times. Hence, it is not surprising that estimates from the global slavery index, 2018 revealed that there were about 40.3 million victims of modern slavery, world-wide. These figures are simply alarming.

According to Polaris Project (2006), human trafficking encompasses both transnational trafficking, that involves transit between two borders, and domestic or internal trafficking that occurs within a country. Undoubtedly, human trafficking is internationally known to be a system of modern slavery. The illegal trade has not only been found to be growing on yearly basis but it has also become one the most illicit problems of the entire world.

Efforts to curtail and eradicate human trafficking have led to the categorization of the factors responsible for its occurrence. These are generally divided into the push (supply) and pull (demand) factors (Gesinde, 2009). These factors play and continues to play a huge impact in the continued spate in trafficking occurrences, as potential victims of trafficking are pushed into being trafficked mostly due to factors tied around poverty and low standard of living.

Push factors are factors resident in the victim of traffickers as well as the environment of the victim which tends to push the victim out of his/her current location while pull factors are factors resident in the projected location which have a tendency to fascinate the victims (Gesinde, 2009).

Our major focus is on the push factors. As the name implies, push factors exist because people are pushed out of their countries, usually due to economic hardships, and pulled into countries that have better economic conditions with corresponding demands for labor. The major Push factors recognized globally today are Poverty and Deterioration in the living conditions of persons, which are more prevalent in the Sub-Saharan African and less-developed economies.

POVERTY:

Poverty is one of the main reasons why Nigerians today migrate. Big families, lack of basic human needs and low standard of living are few of the poverty-induced problems. Most families in developing countries of the world are living below the poverty line. The situation is so terrible to the extent that some go as far as refuse dumps in search for what to eat.

It is therefore not surprising that such people will quickly jump on an imaginary or real offer to migrate to where basic needs of life will be met. Most often, traffickers deceive families by approaching parents to buy their children with lies that such children will be gainfully employed in restaurants or bars. Many have thus fell into this trap as a result of the desperate need to overcome poverty.

DETERIORATION IN THE LIVING CONDITIONS OF PERSONS

Illiteracy, unsafe and uniformed migration culture, unemployment, decline in traditional and cultural values, laxity of security agents, porous borders, and greed are also some of the factors under this category. The terrible rate of unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa is a disturbing event. This makes us not to falter the veracity of the economic concept of “‘violent circle of poverty” which is real to many Africans who suffer the stroke of unemployment and insufficiency in their families.

If young ones grow up and watch their parents working for a very low salary or struggle for a career, they have only one dream; to go abroad, find a job and help their family to overcome poverty. Traffickers understand and employ these push factors to coerce their victims, usually poor and uneducated and without the ability to discern other risks, with promises of a better life and increased opportunity.